Chocolate Waffles with White Chocolate Raspberry Whipped Cream

So this morning I was making waffles as was requested by my kids. I was thinking of how to change it up a bit and decided adding chocolate was a good choice. My kids made me "Star Baker" for the day, if you've ever seen the Great British Bake-Off you know that is quite the compliment 😄


-I used whole wheat flour as my kids can pack down endless waffles if I use allpurpose flour, and nobody needs to eat more than 2 Belgian sized waffles...especially kids less than half my size! I've found the whole wheat flour fills them up faster and they eat less. Me too, which is good because I too can pack in the waffles. I'm sure this recipes is amazing with white flour, but it's still delicious with the whole wheat variety as well.
-As a side note, the recipe calls for melted butter because that is what tastes best. Those of us who can't afford to chuck butter into everything that they eat can use oil in place of the butter. I use canola oil because I cannot stand the taste of vegetable oil...but it's all up to personal preference.
-Another note, sometimes you don't have the joy of having buttermilk in your fridge. If you mix half sour cream and half milk, you get a lovely result. You could also do the whole milk+lemon juice or vinegar trick, but I've found the taste and texture doesn't compare to using cultured buttermilk or the sour cream.

Chocolate Waffles

-1 1/2 C flour

-1/2 C cocoa

-1/4 C white sugar
-2 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp vanilla
-3 eggs, separated
-1/2 C melted butter
-1 3/4 C buttermilk

-sift together the dry ingredients in a bowl and create a well in the middle.
-in a separate mixing bowl, separate the egg whites from the egg yolks and place the yolks into the "well" in the dry ingredients
-add the rest of the wet ingredients to the well and mix until smooth-beat the egg whites on high until soft peaks form
-fold the beaten egg whites into the batter (be careful to not loose the volume!)
-cook the waffles according to your waffle maker

White Chocolate Raspberry Whipped Cream

-1 1/4 C whipping cream
-1/4 C white chocolate chips
-1/4 C raspberry jam

-1/2 C fresh or frozen raspberries 

-melt 1/4 C of the whipping cream with the chocolate chips and mix until smooth. Mix in the raspberry jam until smooth and set aside for a moment
-whip the cream on high until it thickens and turns into whipped cream, slowly pour in the white chocolate raspberry mixture while still whipping the cream, on low.
-fold in the raspberries and serve on top of the chocolate waffles.

Almond Joy Brownies

These gourmet brownies are perfect to share...they are also perfect if you want to eat the whole pan by yourself.

Almond Joy Brownies

Brownies
-1 C soft butter -1 C white sugar -1 C brown sugar -1 tsp salt -1 tsp vanilla -4 eggs, room temp -1 C cocoa -1 C flour -1 C slivered or chopped almonds

-mix sugar, salt, vanilla and butter just until creamed together -add the eggs and mix until smooth but don't overmix as you don't want to incorporate air into the mixture. -fold in flour and cocoa mixing until combined. -fold in nuts -pour into greased 9X13 pan

Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes

Coconut Layer
-2 tbsp butter -1/2 C condensed milk -1 tsp vanilla -1 to 1 1/2 C powdered sugar -1 3/4 to 2 C flaked coconut -mix together and spread over cooled brownies. (Add more powdered sugar or coconut depending on preference) Chocolate Topping
-1 C milk chocolate chips -1/4 C cream

-Melt chocolate chips and mix in cream until smooth. Spread over coconut layer -garnish with about 1/4 C sliced almonds over the chocolate -refrigerate for a few hours and allow to harden before cutting

Homemade Oreo's

Usually homemade Oreo's are made from a cake mix. Since this blog is dedicated to baking without a box, I am presenting a homemade Oreo recipe made from scratch. The filling is my favorite part!

Homemade Oreo's

Cookie

-1 C Butter, softened
-1 C White Sugar

-1 C Brown Sugar  
-1 tsp Salt              
-2 tsp Vanilla          
-2 Eggs, room temp   
-1 tsp Baking Powder
-1 tsp Baking Soda
-1 1/2 C Flour
-1 3/4 C Cocoa

-cream together butter, sugars, salt and vanilla until light in color and fluffy in texture.
-add eggs, one at a time, mixing until the mixture is light and fluffy.
-add the baking powder, soda, flour and cocoa and mix.
-roll into equal sized balls and place on a cookie sheet

Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes 

removed from cookie sheet and allow to cool

Cream Filling

-1 pkg of white chocolate chips
-1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, room temp

-mix the cream cheese until it is soft and fluffy
-melt the white chocolate chips and mix them into the cream cheese
-whip the mixture until it resembles frosting

Frost one side of the cooled cookies with the filling and sandwich it with another cookie. ENJOY!

Vegetable Soup

This soup is perfect for a cold winter day. It freezes well once cooked and also makes a perfect crock pot meal. 

Vegetable Soup

-1/2 to 1 lb stew meat (beef, deer, lamb, whatever you have laying around...we seem to eat a lot of venison over here)
-2 cans beef broth
-1 can tomato sauce
-1 can diced tomatoes
-1 C frozen peas
-1 C frozen corn
-1 C chopped carrots
-2-3 diced potatoes
-1 C frozen or canned green beans 
-1 medium onion, diced
-2 cloves of garlic, minced
-3 stalks of celery, diced
-salt and pepper to taste

-in a large pot, brown the meat over medium high heat with about a tbsp of oil
-after the meat is cooked, add the rest of ingredients and simmer over medium heat until the vegetables are cooked through.

Brown Sugar Oat Muffins

One day while I was browsing Pinterest, I came across a pin for brown sugar oat muffins. The picture looked yummy and so I clicked on the link to check out the recipe. As I read through the ingredients, I was highly disappointed as the recipe called for things like "sugar free breakfast syrup" and "soy or almond milk" and didn't contain eggs, or butter! I'd say I'm pretty traditional when it comes to baking, meaning I like to use butter, eggs, sugar and flour. So using the title of the recipe as my inspiration I came up with this awesome brown sugar oat muffin recipe that is fantastic.

Brown Sugar Oat Muffins

-1 C Butter, room temp
-1 3/4 C brown sugar
-1 tsp salt
-2 tsp vanilla
-2 eggs, room temp
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 1/4 C buttermilk
-1 C whole wheat flour
-1 C flour
-2 C old fashioned oats
-1 C chocolate chips



-Cream the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla together until the mixture is light in color and fluffy in texture.
-add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until the batter is nice and fluffy
-add about 1/2 of the flour and baking powder to the batter and fold in
-add a 1/3-1/2 C of the buttermilk and fold it
-keep folding in the flour and milk alternatively until it is all incorporated, try not to over mix!
-fold in the oats and chocolate chips
-spoon batter into lined muffin tins

Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean

Classic Chocolate Walnut Fudge

Like my Cookies 'n Cream fudge, this fudge also is based off of the Guittard Choc-Au-Lait Vanilla Milk Chips bag, only I've switched a few things up to make a milk chocolate fudge instead of a creamy vanilla fudge. I've found the recipe is fairly versatile, and you could probably make any kind of fudge you desire using it. I plan to do a rocky road type fudge, and a turtle fudge, and whatever else I can think of that sounds delicious sometime in the future. Anyway, enjoy!

Chocolate Walnut Fudge

-1 1/2 C sugar
-1 Tbsp light corn syrup
-1/2 C evaporated milk
-1/4 C heavy cream
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 Tbsp butter
-2 C milk chocolate chips
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 1/2 C chopped walnuts

-Line a 8X8 pan with foil

-Combine the sugar, corn syrup, evaporated milk, cream and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
-While the mixture is boiling, use a pastry brush dipped in warm water to brush down the sugar that has collected on the sides of the pot. Do this 2-3 times while the mixture is boiling
-Boil the mixture until it reads 225 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
-remove the pot from the stove and mix in the vanilla, butter, and chocolate chips, stirring until smooth
-fold in the chopped nuts and pour into your foil lined pan
-cool in the fridge for at least an hour before cutting and eating.

Cookies 'n Cream Fudge

I have to admit, I haven't had much luck with fudge in the past. But since I'm a little old fashioned when it comes to baking and like to make things from scratch, it just doesn't sit right with me to cheat when making fudge and use marshmallow puff. I finally found a super easy fudge recipe that uses boiled sugar. I found it on the Guittard Choc-Au-Lait Vanilla Milk Chips bag. Not only is it super easy to make, but it's absolutely delicious to eat! I've tweaked the ingredient amounts because I wanted a cookies 'n cream fudge and also, I didn't have the right amount of ingredients suggested on the recipe. Nevertheless, it turned out fantastic, so I'm going to keep my changes to the original recipe.

Cookies 'n Cream Fudge 

-1 1/2 C sugar
-1 Tbsp light corn syrup
-1/2 C evaporated milk
-1/4 C heavy cream
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 Tbsp butter
-2 C white chocolate chips
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 1/2 C crushed chocolate cookies

-Line a 8X8 pan with foil

-Combine the sugar, corn syrup, evaporated milk, cream and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
-While the mixture is boiling, use a pastry brush dipped in warm water to brush down the sugar that has collected on the sides of the pot. Do this 2-3 times while the mixture is boiling
-Boil the mixture until it reads 225 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
-remove the pot from the stove and mix in the vanilla, butter, and chocolate chips, stirring until smooth
-fold in the crushed cookies and pour into your foil lined pan
-cool in the fridge for at least an hour before cutting and eating.

Variation:
Maple Walnut Fudge
-replace the crushed cookies with walnuts and the vanilla with 1 tsp of maple extract.